Debate questions sometimes stagger candidates

It happened last month when Republicans vying in the 12th Congressional District were asked to discuss the last work of fiction they’d read.

I half-expected someone to cite a speech by Democratic Rep. John Barrow, struggling politically after redistricting added GOP-leaning areas to the 12th.

Instead, candidates seemed to talk their way around the query; some apparently didn’t recall reading any fiction recently.

They struggled again this week with some questions at a Springfield forum sponsored by the Effingham Tea Party. Example: “Do you support the fair tax or flat tax? Tell us the difference in their tax structure.”

They answered the first part, sort of, but none of them gave a clear response to the second.

Another question clearly put them on the hot seat.

“Explain your feeling about this statement,” it began. “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

State Rep. Lee Anderson of Grovetown agreed.

“This is what our forefathers believed in,” Anderson said. “… If you don’t believe in America, you ought to live somewhere else.”

Augusta businessman Rick Allen said the Constitution is supposed to “keep the government out of the church, not “keep religion out of the government.”

Augusta attorney Wright McLeod, who termed himself “a devout Christian,” said religious values are a “very, very important part of our government.”

Only Dublin lawyer Maria Sheffield challenged the premise of the question.

Sheffield said the Constitution keeps government from “trampling” on religious liberty. But she said the document’s value doesn’t depend on whether people are moral or religious.

“Our Constitution,” she said, “is for all the people of the United States.”